The embodiments described herein relate generally to computer modeling, and more particularly, to systems and methods for generating a computer model of a composite component having a plurality of composite plies.
Composite laminate components generally include a plurality of layers or plies of composite material assembled together to provide the composite component with improved engineering properties. Composite components are typically manufactured by assembling a plurality of plies one on top of the other within a suitable tool or mold until a required thickness and shape is achieved. However, depending on the desired configuration of the component being manufactured, it may be necessary to drape the plies to taper the thickness of the plies. As such, the plies are angled in the third, or depth dimension, as compared to laying the plies on a flat surface in two dimensions. For example, thickness tapering may be required to create a component having a desired surface contouring or shape. To provide such thickness tapering, one or more shortened or terminated plies are typically introduced at various locations within the laminate to form ply drops. Each ply drop generally represents a step-reduction in the thickness of the laminate, thereby permitting a laminate material to taper from a thicker cross-section to a thinner cross-section.
The draping should be organized and represented on a computer ply model for subsequent manufacturing in order to layup and manufacture the composite component. In the design stage of the composite components, computer aided design (CAD) models of the plies and ply drops are sometimes generated. A typical CAD system may allow a user to construct and manipulate complex three dimensional (3D) models of objects or assemblies of objects. Moreover, the CAD system may provide a representation of modeled objects using edges or lines, which may be represented in various manners, e.g., non-uniform rational B-splines.
Current CAD systems provide an approximate representation of the ply surface, ply boundary, and associated curved or contoured surfaces, edges, and lines. Conventional CAD systems, however, may not accommodate for draping information such as, e.g., nominal manufacturing layup sequence, material property information, draping effects induced by ply angle deviation, and automated fiber placement tow path-based ply angles. Moreover, current computer modeling software may not accurately apply non-homogenous composite properties in relative simulations. Still further, some current computer modeling software may not be able to efficiently receive and/or apply composite information from a variety of sources such as, e.g., a layup table, a material look-up table, and draping software. More particularly, current computer modeling software may not be able to apply composite information relating to the number of composite plies, ply fiber orientation, ply thickness, and ply material identification to facilitate accurately simulating component mechanical behavior.
Moreover, manufacturing processes for the physical composite component based on a typical 3D computer model may lead to manufacturing inaccuracies that may further lead to embedded manufacturing deficiencies for the composite laminates since details, such as draping areas, may not be properly defined in the modeling stage. Inaccurate computer modeling may lead to machine tool head collision with the composite laminate and/or an undesired tool path generation.